Customer Service in High-End Audio


The purpose of this thread is not to call out any specific manufacturer or dealer, but to start a discussion about customer service among "high-end" audio manufacturers and dealers.


A little about myself; I'm in my 30's and over the past few years have become interested in putting together an audio system to gain more enjoyment out of my music collection.


Of the dozen or so dealers and manufacturers that I've dealt with, I've been shocked at the overall level of customer service; poor communication (failure to respond to emails or phone calls) rudeness, unfulfilled refund or shipping promises, etc.


I want to add that I have had some really great experiences as well, but overall my experiences have been disappointing.


Now, I understand that some of these companies are small or even one-man operations. I've read threads here on Audiogon where customers have complained about service, and someone has posted something like "he's too busy building cables to respond to emails." Sorry folks, but I don't think that is any excuse for poor customer service.


As a small business owner, I'm really surprised at the overall quality of service in this industry, and I think it could be a huge turn-off to people who are interested in getting into the hobby.


Again, the purpose of this thread is not to call out any specific manufacturer or dealer. I'd be curious to hear others feelings or experiences on this subject.




shadow8911
From a previous post earlier this week:
I want to say a good word for JRDG customer service. I own a consonance preamp that is now 26 years old. An absolutely wonderful preamp. Early one morning during a "late night" listening session I made a boneheaded move and while adjusting the line level gain, put that module back in the preamp one pin off. That module became toast as soon as I turned it back on. Duh. The following Monday morning I called JRDG and to my surprise was able to talk to Jeff himself. He looked in his inventory & was able to find another module for the consonance (a 26 year old preamp!) of which I bought instantly. It was shipped out that day & I bought another fuse to put in the preamp itself. Long story short, I couldn't get it to not blow a fuse instantly when powered up, so prior to putting in the new module, asked Jeff if the new module would fix that issue. He said the module would not fix that, so I packed the whole thing up & sent it to him for repair before messing it up any further myself. He received that preamp on a Friday & the following Monday his secretary called me and stated he had it fixed.There was an issue with the power supply (as well as the toasted line module). I received it today & it sounds better than ever. Again, mind you this is a 26 year old preamp that he apparently made a priority of to fix. The new upgraded module & power supply cost a few hundred dollars and his labor charge to check this preamp out & fix it, was minimal. He certainly wasn't prompted by financial gain to fix my mistake, much less make it a priority. That my audiophile friends is great customer service.  
Some really good feedback here...

Good to hear that most folks are having positive experiences. I think that a little bit of customer service goes a long way, and I hope that manufacturers and dealers realize that we are taking notes.


Has anyone every purchased a product from a dealer or manufacturer who you knew or suspected had sub-par service, but you purchased the product anyway? I've noticed that some of the most talked about products on Audiogon have mixed reviews about customer service, but I suspect that some buyers (I'm guilty of this too) sometimes ignore them, and purchase the product anyway based on product reviews or hype.



I've had great service. The two standouts are Wilson Audio and Jeff Rowland.
I know a speaker company that quite by accident, left out some screws from one of the bottom woofers of the speakers I had bought. I told them that I didn't have those type of screws for a substitute. They sent me a padded envelope with the correct screws via UPS Next day air. Now THAT is what I would call customer service!!!! Pretty expensive screws for them to send, but that told me they really cared.
And another success story of a large company only a couple months ago.
I purchased a Dynavector p75 mk3 phono stage used from a member here, great deal and phono btw.
I decided I wanted to play around with the gain and settings which are changed by internal jumpers.
When I opened it up I found there were no extra spare jumpers over and above what was already being used and I needed 2 more to make the change I wanted.
I emailed Dynavector USA sales contact to ask if I could purchase some jumpers.
They replied within a couple of hours that they would send me some free of charge instead, and I had told them I had purchased it used !
Again outstanding service and makes me keep these type of companies in mind for future purchases both new and used.